Once Upon An American Society Summary

1585 Words7 Pages

Once Upon An American Society American society is a fairytale told to adolescence everywhere: not everything within it is realistic. There are various fairytales around the world; the one told to America just happens to be one of the worst of them all. Adolescence are greatly impacted by the stories American society tells. They are believed to be true by young minds due to the lack of others telling them that they are not. The country’s society is built from many things and includes factors such as social media, broadcasted media, surrounding communities, and, of course, the country’s people. All of these factors, and possibly more, come together to make an effective society to people all over the country. Society impacts teens so much that …show more content…

Much of society today tells teens that there is a standard beauty type and exaggerates on a certain type of person, making them and others who look like them known to be beautiful. These people are advertised to adolescence everyday. Photo-centric social media such as Instagram, Snapchat, ect. expose kids to a constant reminder of bikini-bodies, six-pack abs, and just-right-hair frequently (Knorr 1). With social media, kids and teens have the constant reminder of other people and their appearances; they are constantly comparing themselves to who they see even if their lives are completely different. Social media is not always the same as it is in real life, but some teens grow up thinking that it is and therefore try to mimic what is seen because that is perceived as “life”. Not everyone’s body is the same, therefore the perfect bodys that are seen in social media are not realistic for some teens. Society gives teens the impression that they will be able to “fix” their body to look the way others do, even if they are a completely different person. Along with this, “According to Common Sense Media’s body-image study “Children, Teens, Media, and Body Image”, teens who are active online worry a lot about how they’re perceived” (Knorr 1). Many of the people who are looked at as those with perfect bodies and are the most beautiful or handsome are greatly are admired …show more content…

Love is yet another feeling that many people of America desire. It can be an amazing thing, but when a person is steered in the wrong direction trying to find love, it can become unsatisfying. It is believed by researchers that the influence of Hollywood films implant a twisted sense of the perfect relationship within society and supply unrealistic expectations about romance (Alleyne 1). Because today’s teens grow up watching plenty of television, they begin to believe what they have seen for so long even if some of it is unrealistic. Therefore, when they get to the point of dating or being in a relationship, they expect everything to go perfect and for there to be a happy ending. When there is not, they are let down and confused. The fairytale that is society is “also oversimplifying the process of falling in love and wrongly giving the impression that it could be and should be achieved without effort, it is claimed” (Alleyne 1). Teens and even young adults sometimes try to follow what is done in movies and television to start relationships because what is being done works for a character. People sometimes cannot decipher the difference between fantasy and reality and (if not told different) believe that everything done in television works in the real world which is not true. Lastly, society does not promote enough books, movies,